Thursday, 25 February 2010

(500) Films of Empire - Day 163

421 - Lethal Weapon - 3 starsMost cop buddy movies work on the principal of 'good cop/bad cop' but this film uses the combination of black cop and psycho cop.Much heavier on the 'Lethal' part of the title than the sequels, mainly due to Mel Gibson developing his 'crazy' on-screen persona between this and Mad Max that would be put to use on and off screen for the next twenty years.Penned by Shane Black, it isn't quite as quotable as some of his later work like "It's just been revoked" from the sequel or anything from the brilliant Kiss Kiss Bang Bang, but it did make Murtagh aware that he was "getting too old for this shit". It does beg the question of how old does someone have to be before they are too old? And if he was too old in Lethal Weapon how the hell did he make it through three sequels?!

479 - The Secret Life Of Walter Mitty - 3 starsThis type of Wrong Man scenario has been done many times before, where an everyman is involved in a case of mistaken identity and espionage e.g. North By Northwest, Enemy Of The State, etc. But this time the story is being played for laughs.The everyman in this film is Walter Mitty, a proofreader for a book company who has a tendency to daydream, much to the annoyance of his employer, fiancee and family.I found the dream sequences to be rather self-indulgent especially the musical number, which was only really there to show off Danny Kaye's skills as a song and dance man, but they do serve an important role within the film, as the bad guys use this dependecny on the dreamworld to discredit his opinions and convince him he is crazy and imagining the spy scenario.

202 - The Addiction - 3 starsThis is not your typical vampire film. This isn't The Lost Boys or Blade and is a million miles from Twilight.It differs because of two things.Firstly, it is shot in black and white which is shocking for a vampire movie shot after 1930! This is a bold approach as you obviously lose the colour red which is very important in most vampire films because of the large quantities of blood that is usually spilled.Secondly the treatment of vampirism. As the title suggests it draws parallels between vampirism and drug addiction. Lili Taylor is attacked by a vampire and starts to develop cravings for blood and suffers from withdrawal symptoms when she can't get a fix (i.e. victims) and at one point Christopher Walken turns up as a fellow vampire who has learned to control his habit and attempts to detox her, but instead she hosts a vampire orgy which results in her essentially ODing on blood.An interesting look at vampirism that would appeal to fans of Let The Right One In who like a twist on the usual vampire fare.